How Yang got her groove back
by The Layman
Summary: Or "How she learned to stop Yangsting and start living again". In which Yang goes on journey of emotion healing, culminating in some...interesting and satisfying fanservice. Alternate timeline for Volume 4, low canon level, mainly focusing on Yang. Other characters will appear as they are required.
1. Prologue

It was like all of Yang's zest for life had been contained in her right arm, and when that was lost, so was her will to do pretty much anything.

Yang leaned back in the tub, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her good left arm around them. She used to enjoy sitting in the bath; it always brought back memories of when she was younger, when she and Ruby would get into splash fights and inevitably drag Summer Rose into their playful quarrels, but now it only served to wash off the dried up swear she'd accumulated during the day. It was just a thing to do, the same as eating and sleeping. Even washing her hair, something she used to be passionate and meticulous about, became merely a routine, just another step in bathing.

She sighed, resting her chin on her knees. Now that baths had become so mundane she often let herself get lost in thought, and this time was no different. Lately, her thoughts turned towards her sister and the journey she was on, and how much she missed her.

It had been two months since Ruby left with what remained of Team JNPR on a quest to...do something heroic. Yang couldn't be bothered to recall what the specifics were anymore, but knowing her sister she'd probably try to right wrongs and help the downtrodden, like the heroes from the stories she loved.

"Ruby…," she muttered, "damn it, why do you have to be so much like Mom?" She tried to hit the side of the tub with her free hand, only to suddenly remember that she was missing that appendage. Her mind immediately brought up an image of the fiery haired Faunus who cut her arm, her eyes changing from lilac to bright crimson as rage built inside her.

Screaming in frustration, she lashed out with her left arm, slamming a fist into the

tiled wall next to the tub; a couple tiles cracked on impact, leaving a shallow crater there.

Her palm stung a little as she pulled her arm back. It wasn't the worst pain she'd ever felt, her missing right forearm was proof of that, but it definitely hadn't been there a second ago.

Upon further inspection, Yang saw a fresh cut, with a few bits of ceramic still in the wound. A glance at the wall revealed a splotchy red stain in the center of the crater.

"...huh," she said, putting the incident out of her mind; it wasn't like it was life threatening, or even all that serious, anyway.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the other side of the bathroom door.

" _Yang, is everything alright on there?"_ a sweet, feminine voice asked. Without waiting for an answer the door was opened and in walked a woman with cerulean hair, who took one look at the scene before looking directly at Yang. "What happened?" she asked in a simple, no nonsense tone.

Yang shrugged. "It was looking at me funny," she answered, more on reflex than anything else; she hadn't been in the mood to actively crack jokes in a while. "Almost like I'm naked or something."

The woman shook her head, sighing, and grabbed a towel from the nearby rack. She then motioned for Yang to get out of the tub, holding the towel out to her. "Dry yourself off," she ordered Yang, "and I'll take care of your hand."

Yang grumbled something under her breath but complied anyway, slowly getting to a kneeling position, then a standing one, before stepping out of the tub. She grabbed the towel from the woman, who went over to the cabinet under the sink while she set about drying herself off.

"It's not that bad, Lea-" Yang started to protest before being silenced with a gesture.

"It could still get infected if it's not treated," the woman, Lea Nightengale, explained. She placed a first aid box on the sink and opened it up, pulling materials out. "You really should be more careful, you know."

"...what's the point?" Yang sighed, "It's not like things can really get any worse." She waved her stump around for emphasis.

Lea was nonplussed. "Let me see your hand." Begrudgingly, Yang draped the towel over her shoulders and held out her hand. Lea took Yang's hand in hers and held a small bottle over it, warning "This is going to sting" before tipping the bottle over, pouring its contents on the wound.

To her credit, Yang only winced a little as her wound was disinfected. She'd gotten more than her fair share of scrapes as a kid, so this was nothing. (She hadn't even noticed the pain all that much when she smashed the wall.) Then again, when you lost an arm, anything seemed trivial in comparison.

"Now tell me why you _actually_ hit the wall," Lea said, dabbing the wound with a cotton ball. "I doubt it was because the wall was leering at you."

For a couple seconds Yang debated giving a half hearted shrug as her answer, but ultimately gave up on that idea.

"I was thinking about Ruby," she revealed, "and I just got really angry. I don't know why, I just...did." Lea began wrapping bandages around Yang's palm. "...why did she have to go?"

"She wrote a letter, right?" Lea prompted, "What did that say?"

Yang shook her head, some of her still damp hair falling over her eyes. "I know that much, what I'm asking is why she thought it was a good idea to just pack up and leave like some uncaring, irresponsible…!" Her eyes began to turn red again. "I know I shouldn't be mad at her, but I can't help it! Every time I think of her out there I just-"

A sudden, sharp pain in her right wrist prevented her from finishing her thought. She tried to grab at it, but instead met only thin air, her mind realizing that the appendage in question was no longer there.

"Damn it!" she swore, "Why the hell is everything bad happening to me?"

"You know that's not true," Lea admonished, gently taking the blonde's hand back, "everyone goes through hard times in their lives, it just so happens you're going through yours now."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Yang demanded, "'Cuz it's doing the opposite; I thought you nurses were supposed to comfort your patients."

If Lea took offense to that statement she didn't show it, instead tying off the bandage. "My job is to help people heal physically and properly," she explained, "not to coddle them. That said, after you get dressed it's time for dinner; your father's trying to cook some eggs, though 'overcook' might be more accurate where his culinary ability is concerned."

"I'm not hungry," Yang said, pulling her hand away. She moved the towel from her shoulders to her head and started rubbing her hair dry.

"You should eat something anyway. The doctor said-"

"The doctor can go stuff it!" Yang blurted out, whopping the towel off her head. "'You need to keep your strength up'!" she said mockingly, "Bullcrap! Why do I need to stay strong if I can't even fight anymore? Not that it really matters, I'm still plenty strong." She jerked her head at the ruined, tile wall.

"And that bandage says you Aura still needs to recover," the nurse countered, "and physical health is part of that process."

"Well, maybe I don't _want_ to get better, what about that?" Without waiting for an answer, Yang shoved her way passed the nurse and stomped out the door and down the hall, roughly opening the door to her room and slamming it closed after her. She flopped down on her bed, and buried her face in the covers.

She laid there for what must have been an hour before there was a knock on the door, Lea's voice coming from the other side. " _You left your clothes in the bathroom,"_ she said, " _I'll leave them outside. Will you at least come sit with your father?"_

Yang didn't bother responding.

" _...very well, I'll bring you something later."_ After that there were the faint sounds of receding footsteps.

When she was sure Lea had left, Yang got up and retrieved her clothes; now that she'd had a chance to calm down she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable remaining in the buff, as well as feeling strangely vulnerable. It wasn't an uncommon feeling, one she could easily recall feeling throughout her life. (The time when she and Ruby were rescued by Uncle Qrow, for example.) But ever since "The Battle of Beacon", as people tended to call that event, she hadn't really been able to shake the feeling completely off. Sure, sometimes it was weaker than at others, but it never fully went away, and that pissed her off.

She hated feeling that way, like it was just so easy to take her down now. And it wasn't like she hadn't known before that she wasn't totally invincible either, but with half her right arm gone it was a constant reminder that even at her most powerful she wasn't safe from harm.

It was that blow to her ego more than anything else that left her feeling useless. After all, if it was so easy to beat her when she had both arms, what chance did she even have with just one?

As she tugged her shirt on she glanced out the window at the show covered ground; aside from the odd bit of animal tracks the snow remained undisturbed, still as pristine as it was when it first fell.

Yang sighed, her thought once again turning towards her wayward sister.

"I wonder if it's snowing where Ruby is," she wondered.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _3 months later..._

"Any luck so far?" Port asked, setting a mug of coffee down on the desk of his friend and colleague, Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck. Once the chaos had died down, the hyperactive man had been working nearly nonstop, going through the surviving records and footage from the Battle of Beacon for anything that could shed light on why and how it happened.

"Nothing so far," the bespectacled man revealed, his normally rapid fire speech tempered by fatigue. Not surprising really, considering the man had been at this for nearly a year now, sifting through data from the time he woke to when he headed off to bed.

Port highly suspected his friend would forget to breathe if someone weren't around to remind him to do so.

"But I'm close to something this time," Oobleck continued after taking a sip from his new cup, "I can practically _feel_ it!"

Port leaned in and squinted at the display. "...the tournament brackets?"

"Precisely!" He furiously tapped on the keyboard and brought up the brackets for the current Vytal Festival, highlighting the match of Yang Xiao-Long and Mercury Black. "I've always had my suspicions about this match ever since the controversy at the end."

Port nodded, "I have as well. Shame that, glad she was let off with only a disqualification from the tournament." The rotund man raised an eyebrow. "I take it you've an idea about that?"

"Indeed!" Oobleck typed some more and brought up a different screen, this one just consisting of seemingly endless lines of code. "This is the algorithm for the Single matches roulette, though granted it's only a portion of it. As you can see, it's fairly complicated. Notice anything off about it?"

Port squinted harder, scanning the code from top to bottom. "It just looks like a bunch of gibberish to me," he eventually admitted.

"The same goes for me, for the most part. However, I can't shake the feeling that something about it is off." Oobleck took a long swig of his coffee, downing the rest of the cup. "It's staring me right in the face, I know it! If _only_ this were field research, I would have solved this conundrum by now…." He looked tiredly over his shoulder at Port. "I don't suppose you know any good programmers, eh Peter?"

"None off the top of my head," Port said, his bushy mustache dropping a little. "I'll ask Glynda if she can spare you one next time I see her."

"Thanks, old friend," the traces of a smile worked their way into Oobleck's face, "Give her my regards when you do."

Port nodded and headed back over to the nearby coffee machine. "Refill?"

 _ **Prologue: Why angst?**_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _And so begins a new journey, one I didn't think I'd partake in before Volume 4._

 _Hey everyone, and welcome to my newest RWBY fic! This is something of a return to my roots, in that this will primarily be a Yang centric story, though I guess it's sort of in a similar vein as Stages was. Not nearly as oppressively dressing as that was, but still similar._

 _Basically, the title says it all; this is going to be the story of how Yang Xiao-Long, Mistress of grabbing the bull by the horns (See what I did thar?), stops Yangsting around (OK, I'll stop now!) and once again becomes the fun loving, pun spewing, punch happy Huntress we all fell in love with. It may be a rough journey at times, but the end of the day things should turn out for the better. (On that note, I think it goes without saying that this isn't going to follow the RWBY cannon very much, though I'll do my best to keep it in line with what Rooster Teeth has and will establish.)_

 _Next chapter the plot will start moving. How? Either keep refreshing the page, or fav and follow the story; both methods work, though the latter is a lot simpler. And leave a review while you're at it, I enjoy hearing what people think of what I write._


	2. Chapter 1: Things are looking up

_Well, that prologue was kind of depressing, wasn't it? Don't worry, I'm not going to make the whole story so oppressively grim (no pun intended), so be prepared for things to start looking up._

 _For starters, let's introduce a new player into the mix, shall we?_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _1 week later..._

Yang sat on the stump in front of the house, staring at the ground. It had been five months since Ruby left on her crusade, and she still showed no sign of coming back.

As time went on, she found herself caring less and less about whether her younger sister even _would_ come back home. After all, pretty much everyone else in her life had left her: Raven, her amazing stepmom, her best friend...it's not like she was more emotionally fragile than she left on and could really use some kind of beacon (hah hah, puns) of stability, or that sisters are supposed to be there for each other or anything! No, Ruby was perfectly within her rights to just up and abandon her family and go save the world, traumatized sister and worried dad be damned!

She glanced down at her left hand, making a fist with it. She was actually starting to get used to only having one working arm, though the phantom pains were still annoying when they would flare up for seemingly no reason. She could do most things on her own without too much trouble: changing clothes, bathing, various household chores, she could do these without Lea's help most of the time, and if need be she could make herself food, though a cold cut sandwich was the most complicated thing she could do solo. Physical therapy was annoying, but not unmanageable. Thankfully, Lea wasn't unreasonable and wouldn't push Yang if she was struggling.

"...congratulations, Yang, you can squish a foam rubber ball," Yang sarcastically praised herself, "yippee…."

" _Look at it this way,"_ said a voice behind her, " _now you're one step closer to becoming the Remnant foam rubber squishing champion!"_

Yang turned around towards the voice, all her senses on alert. As far as she knew, Her father, Lea, and herself were the only people around for miles, and she didn't remember either adult saying they were expecting guest, so she was immediately suspicious.

Fortunately the person turned out to be Sun Wukong.

"Oh, hey Sun," Yang said, visibly relaxing. She turned back to her previous position. "What are you doing here?"

"...Well, you're a bundle of joy," the money Faunus noted, clearly being sarcastic, "It's been, like, five months already, don't you think it's about time to drop the angst?"

Yang whipped her head around, righteous indignation burning in her eyes. "I don't know," she said, waving her stump right arm, "you tell me."

"OK," Sun said, holding up his hands as he walked over to the stump, "OK...I get, you're still processing, that's cool." He squatted next to the tree stump. "But seriously, how've you been doing? I know it can't have been easy adjusting to…" He gestured broadly to her missing arm. "...that."

"Oh gee," Yang scoffed, standing up, " _ya think_?" She then began stomping back towards the house, Sun following her. "Did you come all the way here to rub that in, or were you just passing by and that was just a nice bonus?"

"Hey!" The Faunus tried to jump in front of Yang's path, but she simply brushed passed him like it was nothing and continued on. "I was concerned about you, OK? When did that become a crime?" She continued to ignore him as she ascended the front steps. "C'mon Yang, cut me some slack here! We're all-"

She abruptly whirled around and jabbed a finger into Sun's exposed chest. "There's no more 'we' anymore!" she declared, "There hasn't been for months, or do you not remember how everyone just up and disappeared after all the smoke cleared?"

The two teens stared at each other, neither willing to back down; Yang's eyes practically burning with anger and rage, and Sun's with determination to get through to his friend.

"Whatever you're mad about, don't take it out on me," he said eventually. "I'm your friend, and I really do want to help you feel better." He held out his right hand, before quickly realizing his mistake and holding out his left instead. "What do you say?"

Yang made no move to reciprocate the gesture. However, what Sun said did have an effect, and it was a good one; she let out a deep breath, her anger visibly melting away until exhaustion replaced it. She slumped down on the top of the steps, "You're right, I shouldn't get angry at you." She exhaled. "I just...I don't know."

Sun sat next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you'll figure it out; you never seemed like the kind of person who'd let something keep them down for long."

"I used to think that," Yang huffed, "I also used to think that I'd still have both my arms, but you see how that turned out." She held out her stump.

For a minute Sun grimaced, not quite sure what to say to lift the blonde's spirits. He could tell she was emotional- well, more so than she usually was, if memory served -and he wanted to tread carefully; he'd heard stories when he first arrived in Vale of a nightclub owner that got his scrotum crushed by a "blonde haired demon".

It didn't take much to make the connection when he met Yang.

"So, uh...W-Weiss is doing good!" he managed, "At least, that's what Neptune says. Lucky stiff managed to get her new digits after she got whisked back home by 'dear old dad'..." He used air quotes here. "She doesn't really get out much, so apparently she's working on some super secret project she won't tell anyone about; no idea what it could be, but I'm guessing it must have something to with all that junk that happened back at the Vytal Festival."

"Good for her." Yang sort of sympathized with Weiss: both girl with a taste of freedom, and while the means we're different, both had that freedom taken away from them. And unlike practically all her other friends and loved ones, she realized that Weiss herself wasn't at fault for disappearing from her life, so she cut the girl a bit of slack.

"She says she's sorry about your arm, and that if there's any way she could help just let her know," conveyed Sun. "She also said that I was supposed tell you that as soon as possible or else, and this is a direct quote, 'I will personally use Myrtenaster to remove your most useful appendage', and I'm _pretty sure_ she wasn't talking about my tail." He put a hand gingerly on his tail, which was twitching nervously.

Yang actually smirked at that. Not a big one, but still more than she'd smiled in a long, long time.

"Still doesn't like you very much, does she?" she asked.

"Nah!" He waved dismissively, "She loves me, she's just jealous of _this_!" The Faunus gestured to his bare chest, tapping his almost unnaturally sculpted abs with the back of his hand. He also waggled his eyebrows.

She scoffed again, though this one had no real malice behind it.

"Yeah, cause I'm sure that's _exactly_ what Miss 'Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company' wants to be known for: her mythical six pack," Yang pointed out. She sighed, chuckling softly. "How come no one can ever stay mad at you?"

Sun just used both hands to point to his abs, which earned him a punch to said abs from Yang.

"I don't know," he admitted, wheezing a little from the blow, "I guess I'm just able to figure out the right things to say to people. Sage, one if the guys in my team, says it's mystery, but I like to think I'm just that awesome."

"And humble," Yang added. Then she furrowed her brow, looking at monkey Faunus quizzically, "Wasn't Sage the one who took a flaming coconut to the groin?"

"Pfft, heck no! That was Scarlet, and it was _two_ coconuts, actually." He started snickering uncontrollably. "That actually reminds of something that happened last week," he said, managing to get his giggle fit under control, "If you're not doing anything, I'd be willing to tell it to you for a meal."

Yang took a moment to mull everything over. She knew things weren't going to get much better for her, not unless someone magically showed up at the door and handed her a new arm, but at the same time talking with Sun Wukong was making her feel better than she had since that day, and she was actually starting to enjoy it; even if it was just for a day or so, she just wanted to pretend like life was like it'd been before the Vytal Festival.

And it would give her a reasonable excuse to blow off PT for once.

"Sure," she said, propping herself on Sun's shoulder as she stood back up, "but I've gotta warn you, I'm only slightly better than my dad at making food, and he nearly burnt water once."

"Considering the last thing I ate tried to peck my eyes out when I got near its nest, it's an improvement." He accepted Yang's hand up and followed her into the house. "So, have you ever heard of a game called 'Nutball'?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Lea sat on Yang's bed, impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for Yang to show up. The girl was supposed to be doing her physical therapy right now, and yet here Lea was, going on a half hour of waiting for the blonde amputee.

She sighed, wondering not for the first time if Yang really took her recovery seriously. She didn't pretend to know the girl's priorities or how she thought, but her experience as a nurse told her that even depressed patients were at least a little hopeful to regain a bit of their lives back. Granted, she wasn't a psychologist, but she didn't need that kind of degree to recognize the look of joy on someone's face when they were able to move a limb after a traumatic injury, or to finally get the hang of a new, prosthetic arm or leg.

 _I wish I knew how to heal more than just her body,_ the nurse thought, absently tugging on an elastic meant to help Yang keep what was left of her right arm in shape. _It's a pity she isn't from Atlas, or she'd already have a prosthetic._

After another ten minute of waiting, Lea got up and went looking for the wayward teen. Yang often appeared to be lost in thought, oblivious to the world around her, and these states of fugue could sometimes last an entire afternoon if not interrupted, and even then it would take some prodding to snap her out of them.

It was looking like this was another of those cases.

As she exited Yang's room and headed down the hall he heard a commotion coming from the direction of the kitchen. Her first thought was that Taiyang had come home early from his trip, but she dismissed that almost immediately once she recognized that the second voice didn't belong to Yang's father.

As she got closer, she began to make out what Yang and this stranger (it sounded like a boy around Yang's age, but it wasn't anyone she knew lived in the area) were saying.

" _I never tried this with one arm before."_

" _Don't worry, you'll do fine! Trust me."_

" _I've never even done it the_ normal _way!"_

" _It's easy, I do it all the time; sometimes I only use my tail!"_

" _Yeah, but you're, you know…."_

" _Just relax and don't think about it too much. Seriously, this is for your own good."_

" _...OK. Just...don't laugh if I mess it up."_

" _I only promise to try."_

Lea quickened her pace, a bit unsettled by what she was hearing. It wasn't that Yang might be getting it on with some boy, she was fine with teenagers being teenagers, but if that the reason why Yang was blowing off her rehabilitation….

As she turned the corner she stopped in her tracks, the scene that was playing out even more shocking than she thought: Yang was standing in front of the stove, wearing an apron (the boy must have helped her tie it), holding a frying pan with an egg cooking in it. The boy, who Lea now saw was a Faunus, was standing next to her, gently guiding her arm up and down. He did this a few times before he jerked her arm sharply up, sending the egg flipping into the air before in landed back in the pan, sizzling as the other side began cooking.

"Oh my god!" she cried, "I didn't think I could do that!"

"Told ya you just needed to relax," the Faunus boy said, patting Yang on the shoulder, "If you keep practicing, then you can get fancy with it!" He took the pan from her with his monkey tail and deftly flipped the egg again, this time spinning the pan around before catching the egg. "See?"

"That was pretty good," Yang nodded, "In fact, I'd say it was _egg_ cellent!" She then proceeded to slap her knee, laughing heartily.

"...you know," the boy said, "I think I liked you better when you were emo." This earned him a punch to the ribs.

Lea smiled, watching the scene play out; any frustration for Yang's lackadaisical attitude evaporating. Since coming to work at the Xiao-Long house she couldn't remember a single time when Yang had laughed, much less even bothered to crack a smile. Not to mention that this boy had managed to get her to use her good arm without worrying about the other, whether he knew it or not.

She knew Yang still had friends, but it hadn't occurred to her to encourage the blonde hair girl to socialize with them; if she weren't so proud of Yang for finally being able to enjoy life again, she'd probably berate herself for not being a better caregiver.

 _I'll give her another hour,_ she resolved, turning around and letting Yang and her friend have time to themselves.

Who was she to interrupt this moment of happiness?

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _See? I told y'all thing would start looking up for Yang! (Because dang it, I don't want my favorite RWBY character to be miserable forever!) This one is going to be interesting in that it's sort of the inverse of Stages; where that story started benign and got more angsty as it went on, this one is suppose to star bleak and hopeless, and gradually get more upbeat and positive._

 _Because let's face it, RWBY isn't going to get happier any time soon, and like I said, I want some justice for my favorite character from that show._

 _And for those wondering, I plan on eventually reuniting Team RWBY, but that's not going to happen for quite a few chapters at this point. However, rest assured that it will happen, that's inevitable, and I know how I'm going to do it._

 _Anyway, the plot should start happening next chapter, the one after that at latest. In the mean time, leave a review and let me know how I'm doing._


	3. Chapter 2: Never mind

_It's been a while since I've touched this one, and, well...I've actually had this chapter done for a little while now, I just never got around to posting it. ...whoops._

 _But anyway, without further adieu, here it is!_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

After an hour of more lighthearted goofing around Lea came in and introduced herself to Sun before insisting that Yang needed to do her physical therapy for the day.

"... _fine,_ " Yang relented, tugging her apron off. As she followed her nurse off she turned back to Sun, "Go ahead and pick out a movie for us to watch when I'm done."

"OK," he called after her, "but don't complain if we end up watch some sappy romcon!"

Yang chuckled and shot him the bird.

Once they reached Yang's room Lea was the first to break the silence. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Yang burst out laughing. "Who, Sun? Nah, he's just a friend. I met him just before the Vytal Festival."

"Of course." The nurse handed Yang the stretch band. "He is quite the looker, though," she commented, "and the two of you together make a rather nice couple."

"Well, I won't say that thought didn't cross my mind…," Yang said as she slipped her stump into one end of the band, holding the other down with her foot. She shook her head, her cheerful expression falling. "Even if I were interested, I'm pretty sure he and my other friend were a thing. Not like she thought about that before she ran off…."

Lea would have been blind to not notice the abrupt shift in Yang's emotions. Mentioning her sister or her former partner normally triggered such shifts, so she tried to change the subject. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile before today."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked, "There's pictures of me all over the place."

"Yes," Lea nodded, "but pictures aren't the real thing."

Yang shrugged, "Not really a lot to be happy about, I guess." She stretched the band out and let it contract, repeating the motion. "Nothing really worth smiling over."

Lea frowned. As far as she was concerned, there was still plenty for Yang to smile about, despite the tragedy she suffered. "What about Taiyang?" she asked, "He still loves you, even if he can't show it as much as he'd like."

"I guess…," Yang shrugged. She let her stump go limp, the band falling to the floor. "I wish he didn't have to work so much…."

"...well, in the meantime, you could always spend time with that Sun boy," Lea suggested. She could see the faintest corners of Yang's mouth turn upwards.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." As the nurse retrieved the band from the floor, Yang leaned in and whispered conspiratorially "Seriously though, have you seen his _abs_? They could probably stop a charging Goliath they're so rock hard and chiseled!"

Lea gave a small chuckle. "It's difficult to _not_ notice them."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Remind me again why we're watching this?" Sun asked, his eyes glued the over the top action on the screen. He absently reached over to a large bowl of popcorn Yang had on her lap and grabbed and handful, popping a couple pieces into his mouth.

" _You_ picked it out," the blonde reminded him, "not my fault you don't have taste."

"Oh, _I_ have no taste?" Sun pointed at himself, before gesturing broadly at the movie. "I'm not the one who owns a copy of _The Iceman Cometh IV_!"

On screen, the overly muscled protagonist " _Ice to see you again"_ to the main villain as he threw a crystal made of ice Dust at him.

"Though now I know where you get your terrible puns from."

"Hey my puns are _amazing_ , it's the rest of you who don't have any taste!" Yang indignantly exclaimed, pouting. She punched Sun in his side.

"If you say so," he wheezed. "Not like I needed that kidney anyway…."

"Just enjoy the movie; the best part's coming up soon."

Feeling like saying anything else would cost him his _other_ kidney, Sun sat back and focused on the movie, occasionally grabbing more popcorn.

After a while Sun reached into the bowl, only to come up empty handed.

"Uh, Yang? We're out of popcorn."

Yang looked down and, upon noticing an empty bowl on her lap, handed the bowl to Sun and stood up. "I'll go see what else we have," she said, heading into the kitchen. She called back, "Any preferences?"

" _As long as it's not moving, I'm good with anything!"_ he called back.

"OK!" She opened up the cupboard, but didn't find anything that could traditionally be considered junk food; everything was either canned or coffee or bland crackers. The freezer didn't fare much better than cupboard had, mostly having little more than frozen meat inside, plus one or two things that needed to be heated up before they were edible. Now feeling a little frustrated by the lack junk food, she opened up the 'fridge.

This proved to be more fruitful than the other two ventures purely on the basis that there was variety in the contents. (Ironically, they were out of fruit at the moment, though there were still plenty of vegetables.) There were some eggs left, but they'd already had those earlier, and for some reason they had plenty of condiments. There was also a turkey Lea bought the other day, but it wasn't cooked yet.

 _No wonder she left to go shopping…,_ Yang mused silently.

"We don't really have that much right now," she called to Sun, "What do you say to…." She grabbed an unopened jar of pickles, propping the door open with her hip. "...dill pickles?"

" _Are they moving?"_

"Nope!"

" _Then they're fine!"_

"'K!" She hip checked the fridge closed and headed back over to the couch. She plopped down next to Sun and set about retrieving the sour vegetable from its container.

"You uh...need some help with that?" the monkey Faunus asked after watching Yang awkwardly struggle with the stubborn jar for about a minute.

Yang shook her head. "Nah, I'll get it," she assured him, the jar clamped between her knees, "these things just need a little love before they give!"

But despite her assurance, Yang was having a more difficult time than normal with the inherently simple task. She couldn't get a good grip on the jar, something that never used to be an issue for her, and it didn't help that the jar was slick with condensation; Lea mostly took care of food preparation nowadays, so this had never really been a problem until now.

That didn't mean she was going to give up, however; she wasn't going to let some stupid little jar get the better of her!

"You know," said Sun, "I'm OK with waiting until your nurse get back if you can't get it."

"No, I can get it, just give me a minute!" She tried tucking the jar under her arm, but that didn't make as much a difference as she thought it would.

"Then let me give you a hand," he insisted, either not noticing or simply ignoring his unintentional pun, "you're missing part of the movie!"

" _I've already seen it a million times!_ " she grunted, her hand momentarily slipping off the lid, " _Don't worry about me!_ "

"Look, if its too much trouble-"

"Well it's not, so just- _Dammit!_ -just watch the damn movie!"

By this point Yang was getting visibly frustrated, her eyes turning red in anger. In one final effort she gripped the jar and lid as hard as she possibly could, summoning every last ounce of her strength to twist them open. Sun just sat and watched, though now he'd moved to the far end of the couch.

" _Come on already, you stupid-! Just...open…!_ "

She struggled for what seemed like an eternity, tiny beads of sweat forming on her brow, when her strength eventually gave out. She panted heavily.

Sun leaned forward hesitantly. "...did you get it, or-?"

" _RAAAAAAAAGH!_ " Yang screamed all of a sudden. In a fit of rage she threw the pickles as hard as she could at the wall, the jar exploding into a shower of glass and brine upon impact. She turned to Sun, and the monkey Faunus had to fight his instinct that said to "hide behind the couch or get melted by her glare". "There, it's open. Happy now?" She didn't wait for him to answer as she got up from the couch. "I'm going to bed," she grumbled, heading towards her room.

For a while Sun just sat there, staring down the hallway Yang stomped down, still in shock from the blonde's outburst. He could still hear the movie playing in the background, though he wasn't paying attention to it anymore.

"Don't take it too personally," Lea said, choosing that moment to step around the corner and make her presence known; Sun started a little at the interruption, "she got like that when she tried dressing herself the first time after she was let out of the hospital." She held out the two bags of groceries she was carrying, "Be a dear and help me put these away? I'll clean the mess up."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _I'm not gonna lie, the pickle jar is a direct reference to the episode of RWBY CHIBI where Yang attempts to open a pickle jar for Ruby with...mixed results, but I couldn't not include something like that in this story, could I?_

 _Anywho, next time the plot should actually start moving forward. And for those wondering, Volume 4 will be influencing it a bit now that it's out._


	4. Chapter 3: Yang stops moping

Once again, Yang sat moping on the tree stump outside the house. It had been two days since her outburst during the movie night with Sun (who, surprisingly, still hung around the place despite usually getting the cold shoulder from Yang), and the incident still managed to get under her skin.

 _I can punch giant robots and soulless monsters of darkness, I almost won the Vytal Tournament...and it's a jar of stupid pickles that gets the better of me?_ She let out a defeated sigh, clenching and unclenching a fist with her good arm. More of an unconscious habit than anything else by this point. _...maybe I should've let that horny bastard finish me off, it's not like I'm good for anything anymore._ She glanced out towards the distance, in the direction she remembered Ruby leaving in, her thoughts turning to her sister and her former partner, _What good's a cripple gonna do anyone nowadays?_

She glanced back towards the house, catching a glimpse of her father and Lea talking through a window; Taiyang made it back home yesterday, and had been trying to make up for lost time the entire evening. He was cordial to Sun, and tried to engage Yang, though she noticed a majority of his time was spent focusing on her live in nurse. If she had to venture a guess, she'd say that the two adults were in a relationship; not that she blamed her father or Lea for it, it wasn't like she was worth bothering about anymore….

" _It's not a bad looking cabin by any means,_ " a familiar voice said, " _though I personally prefer my abodes to have a bit more of a rustic feel to them, honestly._ "

She quickly whirled around to attack whoever had the gall to sneak up on her, only to once again stop herself when she recognized who it was; this time it was Professor Port standing there, looking pretty much how she last remembered seeing him save for some grey stubble he'd let grow on his chin.

"Still keeping those reflexes sharp, I see!" he boisterously noted, "That's good! Just what I'd expect from one of Beacon's rising stars!"

" _Why do people like sneaking up on me lately?"_ she muttered under her breath. Then she addressed the mustachioed teacher directly, "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Coming to see you, actually," he said. "Do you mind if we go inside? I don't mean to impose, but I'm feeling a little peckish; they didn't have any complimentary peanuts on the trip over, you see."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"You absolutely _must_ give me the recipe for this coffee, Ms. Nightengale!" Port exclaimed, "All Oobleck and I have been drinking for the last few months is that horrible instant stuff."

"Of course," the nurse obliged, pouring the former teacher another cup. She, Yang, her father, and even Sun Wukong had gathered around the table to listen to the portly Huntsman, though the monkey Faunus was paying more attention to one of Yang's stress balls he'd commandeered.

"How are things going in Vale?" Taiyang asked, "I haven't really had time to check in there with how busy I've been at Signal."

Port's face noticeably lost some of its mirth, his mustache dropping slightly. "About as well as can be expected," he admitted, "Glynda's managed to keep things from completely falling apart, though I think she secretly wishes that Ozpin were still here to do the job, not that I blame her." He sighed, "We've managed to cordon off Beacon so that the Grimm aren't too much of an issue, though any that get past the line are more of a nuisance than an actual threat.

"I've mostly been lending my expertise to the perimeter defenses, telling tales of my past heroism to bolster morale and performing feats of said heroism whenever there's an attack,"

"What about Dr. Oobleck?" Yang interrupted; she hated to admit it, but she actually kind of liked the eccentric teacher, even if most of what he did made her cringe internally. The last she'd heard, he was pouring all his efforts into finding a solution for the mess the world was in.

Besides, she didn't want to listen to Port's infamous windbagging.

Port sighed again, "I'm afraid Bart isn't much closer to his goal, Miss Xiao-Long, there's simply too much data to go through. However, that brings me to the reason I'm here in the first place." Yang raised an eyebrow as he took another sip of coffee and continued. "You see, we now have reason to believe that the Vytal Tournament was rigged."

Lea gasped at this, putting a hand to her mouth.

Taiyang's hand tightened on the mug he was holding.

Sun, who'd been tossing the stress ball up and catching it, missed it as his eyes went wide.

"...and?" Yang asked, apparently unphased by the new information, "You say that like it should matter to me or something."

Port looked slightly taken aback. "I assumed it would," he ventured, "considering how excited your team was to participate. Not to mention it clears you of the false allegations from your fight with Mercury Black."

This caught Yang's attention, though she tried not to appear too excited, only marginally succeeding.

"It appears that yours and several other matches were rigged so that Mercury's team would fight certain opponents," he continued, "and given your testimony at your hearing and your sister's mention of him being perfectly fine when she saw him afterwards, it's clear that you were indeed provoked into attacking him after your match had ended." He smiled, "In fact, I dare say you might have actually won the tournament had things played out fairly."

"That's fantastic!" Taiyang cheered, clapping his daughter on the shoulder, "I always knew you didn't do it!"

"Yeah," Sun joined in, "if there's any monkey business going on, it'll be mine!"

He flinched as Taiyang smacked him upside his head.

"You've been hanging around my daughter too much."

Lea smiled, glad that her charge no longer had to live with the stigma of being a sore loser and a punk; it was finally something the young woman could be happy about.

But despite the elation of everyone around her, Yang didn't share any of it. On some level she was glad that whole fiasco was sorted out, but….

"Yeah, great…," she mumbled, "not like it'll matter since I can't fight anymore anyway…."

Port frowned, the tips of his mustache dropping slightly. "Now you know that isn't true, there have _many_ Huntsmen and Huntresses handicaps that have had long, full lives! Why, back in my younger days-"

"You know no one cares about your 'younger days', right?" she interrupted, "Actually, most of us used your lectures to catch up on sleep."

"Yang!" Taiyang snapped, only to be ignored as his daughter continued her rant.

"I don't care what bullshit you may or may not have done, it has _nothing_ to do with me now, and it's not going to give me my arm back." She stood up and headed for her room, "...don't let the door hit you on the way out."

To his credit, Port barely do much as flinched at Yang's cutting remarks, whereas the rest of them wore various expressions of shock.

"...what if you _could_ get your arm back?" the professor asked without turning around, taking another sip of his tea.

This caused Yang to stall in her tracks, her foot already across the threshold of the kitchen.

She didn't say anything, so Port took this as license to continue. "I didn't make the trip out here simply to deliver that piece of information, though that was certainly part of it. You see, I received a message from young Miss Schnee recently, courtesy of General Ironwood; he was there to inspect his troops, and the two of us happen to run into each other."

Yang turned around, looking hesitantly curious. "...and what did he say?"

"He said that she and himself had something for you, in recognition of your contribution to the Battle of Beacon. He didn't elaborate, but I highly suspect it has something to do with your...particular injury." He paused to drink more tea. "I'd be willing to take you to Atlas if you're interested."

For a while Yang said nothing, staring at the floor as she mulled the offer around in her head. If what Port was inferring was true, then maybe it was possible for her to get a bit of her life back! No more struggling with simple tasks, no feeling sorry for herself, no feeling like was just a waste of space….

But at the same time she didn't want to get her hopes up; life had pretty much been one step short of hell since That Day, and she didn't know if she could handle having that hope ripped away from her. The disastrous attempt at a movie night pretty much illustrated how dangerous it was to hope for anything.

"...can I think about it?" she asked, looking up.

Port nodded. "Of course you can, my dear! That is, if you don't mind me staying a bit longer." He turned to Taiyang, "I hope I'm not imposing; I can stay until tomorrow morning, but after that I'll need to leave. Business in Vale, you know."

"Not a problem," Taiyang said, "you can use my room for the night."

"Thanks," Yang mumbled, "I'm going back outside." She headed for the front door.

No one said anything as she crossed over the threshold, the door closing behind her with a "click!".

"So…," Sun said, breaking the awkward silence that lingered, "Port…you wouldn't happen to know if that place that sells Pizza-on-a-stick is still there, would ya?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Eventually dinner time rolled around and Yang still hadn't come back inside. While a little bit concerning, no one was particularly worried; they could see her sitting on the tree stump through the windows, so they could tell if something happened to her. (Though the most she did was shift her position s few times.)

"You think maybe one of us should go get her?" Sun wondered as he sat at the Xiao-Long family table as Lea brought the food in. He glanced over at the door, "She's gotta be getting hungry now, right?"

"She'll come in when she's ready," the nurse said, setting a large pan down in the middle of the table. "I find it's best to leave her be until she comes back on her own. Of course, that doesn't mean she's allowed to skip out on her PT." She lifted the lid off the dish, revealing it to be a piping hot casserole.

"That looks _delicious_ , Ms. Nightengale! And I'd wager it tastes just as spectacular!" Port reached over to to scoop some of the gooey, savory dish into his fork, only for it to be smacked away by a wooden serving spoon.

"Wait until I've brought the rest out," Lea reprimanded the mustachioed Huntsman, "Don't be greedy." She then headed to the kitchen to bring over the rest of the food.

"Isn't tonight usually pasta night?" Taiyang called into the kitchen.

Lea called back " _Normally yes, but I felt like making something different because we had company."_ She walked back out carrying a bowl of tossed salad in one hand and at least for different dressings in the other. "There's some steamed vegetables as well, those will be ready in a minute."

Sun grinned cheekily and nudged Taiyang with his elbow. "She's a keeper, Pops! Don't let her go!"

"I don't know what you're implying," he huffed, folding his arms. "Lea Nightengale is here because she's helping Yang recover from her trauma, not because I feel lonely."

"He's implying we're lovers," she said bluntly, "And I may as well be your wife with how I take care of the house and look after your daughter while you're away teaching."

Taiyang tried to sputter a response as his "wife" went to retrieve the last dish, but was unable to manage one, his face turning beat red.

Sun and Port tried to hold back their laughter at the Taiyang's embarrassment, with only the older man having any kind of success; the monkey Faunus was sniggering quietly, wiping away fake tears.

" _What's so funny?_ "

The three men turned around to see Yang standing there, looking tired but nonetheless any worse for wear.

"Welcome back, Honey," Taiyang said, quickly composing himself for his daughter. "How're you feeling?"

She shrugged. "Better. I did a lot of thinking." She headed over to her father and sat in the empty seat next to him. "What's for dinner?"

"This _really_ kickass smelling casserole!" Sun supplied, "Also some other stuff, but mostly that."

"Have you made a decision?" Port asked, folding his hands. "It's no trouble if you haven't yet."

"No, I have," Yang shook her head, "and…." She let out a tired sigh. "...I want you to take me to Atlas."

At this point Lea came back into the room, holding a pot of steamed vegetables, pausing for a moment when she saw Yang. Then she gently set the pot down and took a seat if her own as Yang continued.

"I'm willing to take the chance that I can get my arm back, because I'd rather do something about this-" She held up her stump arm. "-than mope around for the rest of my life. Plus...I kinda want to get out and explore the world a little bit; I pretty much know this place like the back of my hand, and it's honestly starting to get a bit boring."

"That's the spirit!" Taiyang patted Yang firmly on her shoulder, who blushed a little at the attention. "I'm proud of you!"

"As am I," Lea smiled, clapping her hands together; after so long of watching Yang simply go through the motions, it was uplifting to see her actively wanting to improve herself. "I wish you well on your journey."

Yang stated at the caregiver quizzically, "You mean you're not tagging along? I thought you'd try to come and make sure I kept up my therapy or whatever."

"No," she said, shaking her head slightly, "you're a full grown young woman, I trust you'll remember without me there."

For some reason Yang felt some primal part of her soul shiver a little when Lea said that.

"Besides," the nurse continued, cocking her head in Taiyang's direction, " _someone_ needs to keep things tidy around here, god knows _he_ doesn't make an effort to himself!"

Taiyang squirmed nervously at Lea's pointed accusation. "Lea, is this _really_ a conversation to be having during dinner?" he whispered to her.

She ignored him and started listing things off, "He never cleans up after he eats, he _always_ leaves the toilet seat up- do all men do that, or does he go out of his way to?"

Port and Sun suddenly found the ceiling rather interesting, and wisely held their tongues. Yang on the other hand was trying to hold back her laughter; seeing the usually stoic and reserved nurse get worked up over something was just too funny!

"And don't even get me started on the places he just tosses his un-"

"Why don't we dig in?" Taiyang quickly interrupted, visibly flustered, "We don't want this lovely food to get cold, do we?"

"Indubitably!" Port agreed, taking the opportunity to scoop a generous helping of the casserole into his plate, "I dare say we've waited long enough!"

As the five of them tucked into the meal ("This stuff beats tree bark any day!") Yang found herself laughing along with the others as they joked about this and that, or listened to one of Port's yarns.

 _This is...nice_ , she thought, _I just wish Ruby was here too…._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

 _And there you have it, Yang is going to (possibly...) get her arm back, and is on her way to losing the #Yangst! First stop: Atlas!_


End file.
